Haunted
by Mickie101
Summary: Roy has been spending all his time looking for the original Roy, so when he actually finds him, why doesn't the team believe him? Based off of the episode Haunted of Teen Titans, but is not a crossover.


**Response to a challenge by s8trgrlhinata. Review! **

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The red-headed archer sat at a computer screen. The room around him was dark which was a blessing actually. He hadn't cleaned his room in weeks. He couldn't remember the last time he had even left the room. That would account for the foul smell coming from the corner. Batman had given him all access to the Cadmus files. He was hoping to find something, anything to lead him to the real Roy.  
His head bolted up. The clock read 1:30 pm. He hadn't even realized he was sleeping.  
"Woah, calm down. It's just me," Wally aka Kid Flash said. He was dressed in civvies. "We're all going out. You should come. Take a break."  
Roy looked up. The team gasped. He looked awful. Drool gathered at the corner of his mouth. His usually close cut hair came a little past his ears. A beard hung just as low as his hair did. And that was just his appearance. They didn't dare open their noses to sniff whatever dead animal had died in there.  
"Oh," Miss Martian said, concern filled her eyes. She brought her hand to her mouth.  
"My friend, we are worried about you. It seems as if you spend all of your time in here," Aqualad took a step forward.  
"Yeah? Well, I'm worried about Roy, the real one," Roy said, bitterly.  
"Dude, you gotta stop saying that," Wally said.  
"We told you, you're the one we've become friends with, the one we trust with our lives," Robin argued, glasses masked his eyes.  
Roy stayed silent.  
"Please come, Roy," Artemis begged.  
They had said their part.  
"I'm not taking a break. Roy doesn't get a break. Roy's family and friends don't get a break, so why should I?" he challenged. The team just looked at him sadly. They left. Good. He didn't need them. They only distracted him from the mission. He refocused his attention back to the screen.  
After a while, he rubbed his eyes and stood up. He heard a noise behind him. He turned, and saw him. He barely believed it, but there was no denying it. A boy around his age stood in front of him. The boy looked exactly like him, or rather Roy looked exactly like the boy.  
Roy didn't speak.  
The real Roy didn't speak either.  
Both were afraid to break the silence.  
Then the real Roy bolted away.  
"Wait!" Roy yelled. He grabbed his bow and arrow and chased after him. The zeta tube opened, and Roy followed. When he emerged on the other side, he was in an empty alleyway. No Roy. No people. Not even a stray cat.  
Roy cursed himself. He had been so close and he had let Roy slip away.  
He looked up just in time to see a large body falling down on top of him. He tried to move out of the way, but the body was coming too fast. It had him pinned.  
"Hello, lovely," a voice whispered in his ear. "Couldn't bear to be away from me, could you?"  
Cheshire. She kissed him. He would be lying if he said he didn't like it.  
He shoved her off of him.  
"What's wrong, love? You haven't fallen for my sister, have you? I might just have to kill her for you" Cheshire joked.  
Roy lifted his bow.  
"Oh, darling, if you want to dance, all you have to do is ask," Cheshire teased.  
"I'm not here to dance," he said, gruffly. He let an arrow fly. She easily dodged the arrow. Roy was about to shoot another arrow when he saw a tuft of red hair above him. Cheshire took the opportunity to land a punch to the side of his jaw.  
"You're off your game," she said, licking the side of his face. The real Roy stood above him, silently judging him.  
"Hey, she's over here!" Artemis pointed from the entrance of the alley.  
"That's my cue. See you later, love." She did a few flips to show off. She waved, and then she was gone.  
The real Roy had climbed on the roof somehow. Roy looked for the best possible way to follow him.  
"Dude, where'd she go?" Kid Flash asked, skidding to a stop beside Roy.  
Roy shrugged.  
"What do you mean, you don't know? She was practically on top of you," Artemis grunted out.  
Aqualad and Robin ran into the alleyway. Kid Flash continued to search the alleyway.  
"She's gone," he announced.  
"You let her go?" Aqualad asked.  
"She had important information, concerning the Light and the other Roy," Robin said. They all looked at him accusingly. He hated it.  
"You don't understand. I saw the real Roy. He was right up there and now he's gone thanks to you!" Roy yelled. They gave him that same pitying look. They didn't believe him. "I don't have time for this."  
He pushed them away and shot an arrow to the roof. He used it to climb up to the top. The real Roy was just on the next building over.  
Roy leaped over. By that time, the real Roy had reached the next building.  
He leaped over to that building. Again, the real Roy had leaped over to the next building.  
It continued on like this for over an hour. Every time he seemed to get closer, the real Roy would only leap farther away.  
Aqualad jumped in front of him, blocking his way He grabbed him.  
"Stop," Aqualad ordered.  
"Let me go!" Roy yelled. He punched Aqualad, viciously. Aqualad didn't let go. The real Roy disappeared over the edge of a building. "He's gone!"  
"Friend, look at yourself," Aqualad tried. "You are chasing after ghosts."  
"No, he's alive. You have given up on him, but he's alive and he's right over that ledge," Roy insisted.  
Aqualad squinted and looked in the direction Roy had pointed out.  
"Roy, there's no one there."  
Roy looked over the ledge. The real Roy was right there.  
"He's right there!"  
"Nobody is there," Aqualad insisted. Roy let that sink in.  
"But-"  
"The team has been scouring the city, looking for evidence that Roy has entered the city and they've come up with nothing. I'm sorry, Roy, but he's really not here."  
Roy shook his head. They were wrong. They were all wrong. He jumped off the building. He tucked and rolled at the bottom. Aqualad leaned over the edge. Roy mouthed 'I'm sorry.'  
He ran off to the park. The only place he knew the team wouldn't look for him. It was late at night, so the only people there were drug dealers and prostitutes.  
He sat on a bench. He laid his bow and arrow beside him, and hung his head.  
A hand brought his chin up. He knew that hand. It was his own. Roy kept his eyes trained on the ground.  
"Look at me," the real Roy said. He was pale, incredibly pale. He looked just as awful as Roy. His head was patchy and he was missing an arm. "Look what you have done to me."  
Roy wanted to look away, but the real Roy was entrancing, or maybe it was the overwhelming guilt that had him hypnotized.  
"I'm in so much pain all because you stole my place. Take my place again."  
The real Roy held up a syringe filled with liquid.  
"Take my pain away."  
Roy took the syringe.  
"Make up for the wrongs you have done."  
He pressed it to his bare arm.  
"A life for a life," Roy and the real Roy said this in unison.  
He pressed in the syringe. An arrow shot it out of his hand. The real Roy disappeared. Artemis ran to where he had been.  
"He wasn't real," he said, flatly. Artemis nodded even though it wasn't a question. He sank to the ground. Artemis wrapped her arms around Roy. They remained like that for a while.  
"I think I'd like to take that break," he smiled wanly.


End file.
